DATE: Wednesday, July 9, 1997               TAG: 9707080472

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C6   EDITION: FINAL 

SERIES: FORE!: Your weekly local golf report 

SOURCE: BY JIM DUCIBELLA, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   43 lines

BUILT BY THE ACE OF CLUBS

Maybe it only seems like Eric Ackerman's phone never stops ringing. Maybe the large black binder in which he keeps his job orders only seems jam-packed.

Or maybe, as Ackerman says, golfers really are becoming more educated about their equipment. Maybe forged-iron clubs are making a comeback.

Either way, Ackerman, president of Affordable Golf, has something special going on at his shop on Virginia Beach Boulevard - 21st century-style custom-club building.

``If you wear a size 10 shoe, do you buy a size 9?'' he asks. ``No. You buy the size and type of shoe you need. It's no different with clubs.

``Say you swing at 78 miles per hour and I swing at 83. Both equate to the player needing a stiff-flex shaft. But one guy is taller, faster and stronger than the other. If we both buy the same club, one of us can't possibly be fit properly.''

Ackerman is a member of the Professional Club Makers Society and the Golf Clubmakers Association. He was tutored by the late Dick Davidson, one of seven Class A club-makers in Virginia.

He admits there are other custom-club builders in the area, but adds, ``they haven't made the investment.''

The investment is Sportech. From the front door of Ackerman's shop, it looks like a big white box. But it's really $9,000 worth of computerized, swing-measuring equipment.

As you hit balls into a net with a 5-iron, Sportech measures a myriad of things: the speed of your backswing and downswing, clubface angle at address, top swing and impact. It tells you how far you hit each club and how far off line your shots wander.

Ackerman averages that information, then refers to a book with specs on thousands of shafts. He narrows it down to a group that fit a player's needs.

Next, Ackerman measures how a player ``loads'' the shaft. Does he have a quick tempo? Is he handsy? A hitter? Or is he a rhythm player? A swinger? It all matters in picking the shaft that best matches your frame and your game.

He can build a set in a week. The cost for a full range of irons runs from $325 to $675. Woods start at about $150 apiece. KEYWORDS: GOLF

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